Season 16
by CJgirlatheart
Summary: In between takes... Nick and Ellie heavy..
1. Destiny Child

My Take on what happens before or after a scene... i do not own any of these characters... #ellick

16X1

MTAC..

Torres just came on the screen. He looks tired and beat up, Ellie thought. "Hey, B" Torres greeted her. " how have you been?" She replied. "Not good" he said squeezing his eyes shut.. " I just wanna wake up and this nightmare be over" he continued. "It doesn't look like you are getting any sleep" Bishop said with concern. "Well, it might help if I had my...MTAC door opens..Gibbs come down the ramp..."4 weeks I've been in this hell hole." Torres said as he switched the conversation...

...…...

Torres on the Tarmac...

"Hello" bishop said as she answered her phone. "Good Morning" Torres said.. "not so good" Bishop replies..."I know" he said deflated. "What am I missing" Torres asked.. Ellie wanted to say "me" but she didn't.. "McGee and I are at the bank.. I don't know exactly what we will find" " I will be there as soon as I can to help"..."Bishop you ready?" Torres heard McGee in the background.. "Look Nick I got to go" she said and hung up without letting him say goodbye.. She needed to focus and talking to Nick was not letting her do that...

...

Nicks Plane just landed as the bombs were going off... Damn it he really needed to go home, take a shower and get some clean clothes...well that has to wait.. he heads his car to the navy yard... Ellie is waiting for him in the lobby when he comes thru the door.. She is a site for sore eyes.. She reaches for a hug and then pulls back.. her nose scrunched up.. he sees other people looking at him strangely but doesn't think to much of it.. Bishop gave him the SITREP on the elevator ride.. "Nick, this is not good." "I know, and I think it's gonna get worse before it gets better. What do you need me to do" he asked. "Can you make contact with the first responders" she asked.. "Sure" he reaches to pat her on the shoulder but his hand ended up creasing her cheek.. she leaned in to it and who know how long they would have stayed there had the elevator not dinged..

...

Nick looks at all the spilled lava laps... man Bishops (and Gibbs/McGee's) life hung in the balance of some damn lava lamps.. he was so

concerned for Bishop, that he only expressed concern for him.. Gibbs coming over the phone saying they were good and good job Nick.. oh yeah he knows.. Rule #12 damn it... His phone received a text with an address to meet Gibbs at... Time to go get the Bad guys...

...

Bishop has just escorted Kayla to the bull pen to see her dad... Seeing them hug was so heartwarming.. The team did good.. she needed to do something, she just couldn't decompress the last two days by herself.. before she knew it she was outside of Nick's apartment.. She only had to knock once before he answered.. he looked like he just got out of the shower...hair wet, no socks on.."Hey B what's up.." "umm can I come in"...he moved to the side so she could come in.. "you smell better" She said.. Torres chuckled... "wanna a beer" he asked? "No, I wanna Hamburger.." he went grabbed his shoes...sleep would have to wait...


	2. Love the neighbor

Love thy neighbor 16x2

As Torres gets off the elevator, he puts on his happy face, or at least as happy as he can be..it's been rough lately trying to move forward without having his morning snarky battles with Reeves.. he misses him more everyday.. "Good Morning" from Bishop snapped him out of his head...

—-—

Reeves walked into the LT house... damn, damn, damn he yells at himself internally. How can he be so stupid and careless.. Bishop didn't understand how important those glasses are, if she did she wouldn't have called them any old pair... damn.

—

Great the whole neighborhood is out and he gets to interview the slob not wearing any pants.. Could this day get any worse.. "Torres" Gibbs yelled..."put some clothes on, no one needs to see that" Torres told the slob as he stalked off.. Great first he's a jerk to Ellie, now losing his cool in front a witness and Gibbs...

—

Nick is not having the night out he was playing on having.. painting and wine was not his idea of "tearing up the town"...But hanging out with Jimmy was kinda cool... He needed more wine... As he was waiting for the hostess to get him a refill, the boys next to him started in on him... "Oh Damn" Nick thought to himself as he sees jerk #1 laying on the ground bleeding from his nose.. "jimmy you good?" "Oh yeah that was awesome" "wait till Gibbs finds out" Torres replies. "Oh, opps" Jimmy said...

The booking agent wanted to know who they wanted to call... Jimmy votes for McGee, but Torres knew there was only one person they had to call..Gibbs.

"Gibbs"... Gibbs one word answer when his phone rang at 1:30am... "Special Agent Gibs, this is Officer Davis at Metro Dentition"..."I'm on my way" Gibbs cut him off. He knew without knowing that Torres got into some type of trouble.. what he didn't expect was Palmer was with him. When Officer Davis told him Palmer threw the first punch and why Gibbs was a little surprised and proud.

Nick knew he was in trouble. He couldn't believe he lost his cool and how unworried Palmer is. He keeps shadow boxing in the corner and all Nick can do is bang his head against the wall. Nick here's the door open and can tell by the look on Gibbs face as he rounds the corner he is done.

Nick retrieves his phone from the desk sergeant. 3 misses calls from McGee and 12 from Bishop. He thinks about hitting redial on her last call but doesn't.

—

Nick was not looking forward to working today.. McGee and Bishop ambushed him at the elevator, Jimmy bringing in donuts like it was something to celebrate and now he has to talk to Sloane, the head dr. He doesn't need help, or a shrink.

"Go home, Nick" Both Gibbs and Sloane has sent him home. Him, Home. That lasted 30 minutes, until he headed for the nearest bar. After the 3rd call from Ellie, he shut his phone off. After the 5th drink he realized that he did need to talk to someone, not Sloane, someone who was in as much pain as he was.. Ellie...But could he ask her to help him thru his pain, with her she has had to deal with the last two years, Her divorce, Tony leaving, Qasim dying, then what happened with Abby and Reeves.. wouldn't that be selfish. But then she did call 3 times, oh make that 5 times. 2 new voicemails popped up when he turned on his phone. He called an Uber, paid his bill and grabbed his broken glasses.. still broken...

When the Uber dropped him off, Ellie wasn't home so he just sat on the stoop, waiting... should he call her? He was about to, when he saw the lights from her truck down the street... relief was in sight.

—

Ellie had been debating on whether or not to swing my Nicks house, but Gibbs said he would do it. Which was fine cause they needed to clear the air. She would wait an hour and then give him another call..if he didn't answer her call she would go over there herself. When she saw him on her stoop an overwhelmingly since of relief came over her.

—

As Ellie started the coffee, Nick sat on the couch and started to drift asleep...::::


	3. Boom

... Torres heard a noise, russelling in the dark. He felt like he was in a strange place. Man his head hurt. There it was again, the noise. He made for his weapon, but it wasn't on his nightstand... wait this was not his place. He heard a key turn in a lock, he sat up fast and without really seeing anything, looked for anything that could be used as a weapon. When the door opened and Bishop walked thru holding 2 coffees and a bag of what he assumed was bagels with her teeth. "Well look who is awake" she said. "Went for breakfast... chop chop we got work to do" "ehhh" he groaned. Bishop chuckled "that's what you get for playing on a school night..."

—

... As Bishop watched Nick and McGee play hangman, she was relieved that things were back to normal. Between them and the team. No one noticed that she was a little late this morning. She didn't realized that a guy could spend so much time in the shower. To save time or so she thought, she let Nick use her shower... seeing him walk out without his shirt was dangerous. She almost spilled her coffee all over her shirt..."Bishop" Torres called her out of her head. He was looking for her to reenforce the rule about eyes and nose face thing in hangman. "Not getting involved"...she responded...

—

As Torres and Bishop headed toward West's house they were discussing McGhee's fascination with the real wives of war show. "I think McGhee's heart will be broken if Sheba is somehow involved" Torres said. "Ick, Can I hope she is?" Bishop asked. " I can't believe MCGhee is into that trash" she continued. "Women, tight clothes, McGhee guy, of course he is into it." Torres laughs. "And Delilah?" Bishop asked. "Not into it" Torres responded. "What about you, would you be into that type of show?" Bishop asked. "Oh look, we are here" Torres said in relief as he pulled up to West's secluded cabin. They spotted their target under the hood of his truck...

—

Bishop yelled "we just have a few questions" as West ran into his cabin. They chased after him, but Torres stopped her. Something wasn't right, as that popped up in his head, shots were fired out the window. "Gun" Torres yelled, like she couldn't figure that part out. He pushed her down and away from the shots. He had to protect her. Bishop was thinking the same thing. She had to protect him. They were about to return fire when they heard something fall beside them. A Grenade! "Go go" nick yelled pulling her up. Nick felt a hot stingy feeling in his back as the grenade exploded and carried him into the air. As he took cover with Ellie, he felt his shoulder pop. Not good. "Aww" he groaned. "What" Ellie asked, "you okay?" "I think I have something in my shoulder" he replied. "Let me have a look" "Not now, call Gibbs, we need back up". No telling what other kind of ammo this kid had. Nick was Not expecting a damn grenade. The burning in his back was getting worse. He was trying to concentrated what Bishop was relating to Gibbs...he spoke over her.."GRENADE...BOOM"...Bishop smacked his arm and he winced.

—

"Nick we really should get you to an ambulance" Ellie said. "I'm good. Just drop me off on the way back to the office." "Torres. Ambulance NOW" Gibbs barked. Man he didn't need a stinkin' ambulance Torres thought. But he was to let as he saw the ambulance pull up. Ellie wanted to ride with him but there was work to do. On the way back to D.C she was by herself and had time to think. Man that was close. If Nick hadn't literally planted himself on her it would have been her with the gash on her back. The way he hovered over her and kept her inbedded in his side made her feel differently. It felt more protector than partner... is this really happening she thought. She had to be an idiot not to see and feel the changes in their relationship. "I'm good" a text for Torres gets her out of her thoughts. "I be in office in 30" he continued. He is going to be okay. She was relieved...

McGhee left happy. He got his ping superpowers back. Ellie seemed to be lingering, slowly typing something on her computer. He was wrapping up his Agent injured in the field paperwork.. it was brutal. "You heading out" Bishop asked. "Yeah, just finished" as he set the paperwork on Gibbs desk. They both grabbed their bags and headed to the elevator. "Wanna grab a beer" Torres asked her. "Can it come with a hamburger, a really really big hamburger?" Bishop asked him.. "yeah, I know just the place"...


	4. Third Wheel

Bishop was having trouble concentrating on her puzzle.. she usually has no trouble solving them.

"Excessive Supply, four letters" she asked McGhee. "Glut" he said. "Thanks" she said and the ding from the elevator opened. Torres came walking in.. They have been out to dinner 4 times this week. The other night, the perfect hamburger place that he knew about was his place. He knew how to cook.

"Tim, do you mind for if I played my music again" she heard him ask MCGhee.. awww he knew his music would get to her.. in a good way...

Nick pushed the car as fast as it could go. Ellie and he were on their way to Gibbs cabin. They couldn't get to him via phone. "See this is why I like the city" Nick said.. "you can always be reachable" he continued. "Nothing beats the quiet and fresh air." Ellie replied. "So, um what do you think about Izzy" Nick asked. "Dingy, incompetent, all over the place" Ellie replies with her nose scrunched up. "Incompetent?" Nick asked. "Yeah, if she was upfront with the right information, we could have given Gibbs a full briefing. He looking for one person, not two" She said holding up two fingers. "Dang B, that's harsh, no" " nope. What do you think about her?" Ellie asked. "She seems fun, man can you imagine the trouble she and Jake got into." "Seems to me, Jake grew up, while your girl, well..." Bishop trailed off. She really didn't want to talk about this woman... ugggg. Nick was a little confused. Ellie usually wasn't so judgmental about people. He sensed that Ellie didn't wanna talk about it any more so he kept quite and focused on getting to Gibbs cabin..

"I'll see you next week for that motorcycle tour, next week" Izzy told Nick as she winked at him. "What" Bishop asked him. "Oh, I don't know what she talking about". He started to question Jake about Brodie but all Ellie could think about was this tour Nick was going to give. Was he really into her. What have the been doing these past few weeks. Was she reading him wrong. She wanted a motorcycle tour. Men sucked was her last thought before McGhee told them to get back to work...


	5. Fragments

As Claire Hall listened to her husbands last words, she was lost. But she was a good Marine wife and knew that if her husband would have foreseen what would have happened after he took his own life he never would have. She would do what was in her power to right a wrong. She picked up the phone and called the NCIS Hotline number.

—

As Gibbs listened to Ms. Hall's story he knew there was only one thing he had to do. He had to get justice for the Marine that had been paying a debt he didn't owe. Now he had to get the Director on board. He directed McGhee to fill out the necessary forms to have Hall's body exhumed for another autopsy. Hopefully Palmer would find something.

—

As Bishop rode the elevator with other agents she couldn't a) keep her excitement in check as she finally discovered the reasoning behind the whole laurel thing and b) her frustration at Torres for almost spilling the beans about their weekend away. Even though they took a trip down to Myrtle beach and nothing happened, she didn't want to become an office rumor. It was a nice weekend. They laid on the beach, danced the nights away. But her favorite part was finding a secluded part of the beach and watched the sun go down. Two people sitting side by side, shoulders touching. Nick just let her be. If they had been more that friends it would have been romantic. Why were they just friends? Just popped in her head as the elevator opened. "Hey Guys" She said. Eyeballing their muffins.. yum food she thought.

As Gibbs headed to Jacks office where he left her all the tapes Mrs. Hall gave him, his thoughts went back to memories of when he was in Iraq during Desert Storm. Different time, Different War. But same effects. Fog of War, stress of War and death of War gets to everyone. Two Marine lives held in the balance. As he went in Jacks office he hoped that she would have something for him to work with.

Boss was quieter that normal McGhee thought as they drove up to the prison where Jennings was being held. McGhee knew not to bother Gibbs when he was like this.

The meeting with Jennings didn't go well at all. Here they had evidence showing he could be innocent and he didn't want to hear it. "Boss," " I don't know McGhee" Gibbs cutting him off. Gibbs knew what his young agent was gonna ask. He didn't know why Jennings didn't want them to help him. Maybe it was guilt. He knew something about that.

—

Vance was sitting at his desk. He looked over Gibbs request to exhume Hall's body. He just didn't know if he could justify it. He was not looking forward to telling Gibbs his request would be denied. It would like telling a Marine they were leaving someone behind. Marines don't do that. Maybe Gibbs would use his anger, and he would be angry to fuel him into finding something to justify the exhumation. Cause the one thing Vance knew Gibbs was not going to quit and let this be the end.

—

Kaci wanted to help. Just had just been made permanent. She stood behind the partition that separated Gibbs team from the rest of NCIS agents. Before she said anything she watched Gibbs streamline coffee. His blood had to be half blood, half coffee. Bishop was pecking at her computer and McGhee was deep in thought.. "morning team"...

—

As Bishop and Torres headed to the MSGT Fletchers home, Torres kept bugging Bishop about the Director/Gibbs match in the bullpen. "So what you're telling me is that no punches were thrown?" "Actual punches, no, but verbal ones, I think Gibbs landed a few more that the Director." Bishop replied. "So if you had to pick one, in the ring, who would you pick" Torres asked. "Oh, that's a good one." Bishop replied. She had to think about that one. The Director trained in boxing, but Gibbs, he would out think a boxer and possible wear them down just long enough to sneak in a KO punch. Luckily Bishop didn't have to give her answer as they pulled up to Fletchers home.

After hearing Fletcher recount of the incident, Bishop and Torres couldn't seem to make conversation. There were no words to say.

Gibbs was finally able to break Jennings and get him to tell the truth. Or at least the truth that he remembered. Hopefully, this would be the information that Vance needed to change his damn mind. "I will re-submit the request, Boss" McGhee told Gibbs as the pulled in HQ. "That can wait. You need to be the one to tell the Director what Jennings said" Gibbs said. Hopefully with it coming from McGhee, the Director wouldn't question, requestion, the request!

—

Jennings was deep in thought in the library restoring his books. These last few days, he has had a lot of thoughts push to the surface thanks to those NCIS agents. The older one, you could see it in his eyes that he as seen the horrors of war. The younger one, his eyes are searching for answers. Answers, Jennings didn't think he could give. 48 years was a long time. If what they said was true and he didn't kill his best friend, how would he survive in the outside world. Did he even want to? All of a sudden he felt a presence behind him...

McGhee had just stood there for a moment watching Jennings restore a old book. Would he be able to get why he needed from the old man. Would he finally be able to fully understand what he had been through, understand what HIS father had been through. He always regretted being afraid of asking his father about Vietnam. There was always that haunted look he had in his eyes... "I get two hours a day in this room..." Jennings baritone voice pulls McGhee out of his head...

—

The young buck was waiting for him when he took his first steps outside of the prison. "Is there anywhere you wanna go before we head to the cemetery" he was asked. "Fletchers's" was all he said.

As McGhee stood in the distance watching the two men make their peace he wondered, he wondered how Jennings could forgive so easily. But when they got to the cemetery and saw Hall's widow embrace Jennings it all made since. 48 years later the fog of war had lifted.

To all those that served during the era of Vietnam, words will never be enough to truly show gratitude, and thanks for all that was sacrificed. For those who had to look into a loved ones haunted eyes, know that you just being there was enough to make their eyes just a little less haunted... the daughter of a U.S. Marine, Vietnam Vet... Sempr Fi


End file.
